Parts of a Sentence:
Subject and Predicate
The ______tells whom or what the sentence is about and the ______says something about the subject.
Examples: The subjects are separated from the predicates. Notice they can be one word each, or they may be more than one word. The words on the left are the complete subject (the simple subject and any words, phrases, or clauses that modify the simple subject) and the words on the right are the complete predicate (a verb and call the words that describe the verb and complete its meaning).
Coyotes were howling in the distance.
The telephone in the lobby rang.
The woman wearing the red blouse is my aunt.
The main word or word group that tells whom or what the sentence is about is called the ______.
Examples:
A triumphant Gloria Estefan stepped up to the microphone.
Complete subject – A triumphant Gloria Estefan
Simple subject – Gloria Estefan
Out of the beaker rose a foul-smelling foam.
Complete subject – a foul-smelling foam
Simple subject – foam
Did you make the grits, Travis?
Complete subject – you
Simple subject – you
The ______, or ______, is the main word or word group that tells something about the subject.
Examples:
The ambulance raced out of the hospital driveway and down the street.
Complete predicate – raced out of the hospital driveway and down the street
Simple predicate – raced
Diego may have borrowed my book.
Complete predicate – may have borrowed my book
Simple predicate – may have borrowed
Exercise 2: Identifying the Complete Subject
Directions: Identify the complete subject in each of the following sentences by underlining it.
1. Ever since colonial times, Americans have made quilts.
2. Traditional designs, with names like Honeycomb, Tumbling Blocks, and Double Diamond, have been handed down from generation to generation.
3. The designs on this page are quilt blocks from a modern quilt.
4. They certainly don’t look like Great-grandmother’s quilts!
5. However, quilting techniques have stayed basically the same for well over a hundred years.
6. Small scraps of bright cloth are still painstakingly stitched together to create each block.
7. As in many antique quilts, each quilt block shown here was designed and sewn by a different person.
8. Some of the designs are simple.
9. In others, colorful details bring circus scenes to life.
10. A dark background is sometimes chosen to set off the brilliant colors of a quilt.
Exercise 5: Identify the Complete Predicate and Verb
Directions: For each of the following sentences, underline the complete predicate once. Then, underline the simple predicate (the verb or verb phrase) twice.
1. The warm-weather sport of surfing uses the force of incoming waves.
2. The wintertime activity of snow skiing relies on gravity.
3. Surfers can pursue their sport with only a surfboard, a flotation vest, a swimsuit, and a safety line.
4. A skier’s equipment includes ski boots, skis with bindings, safety cables, ski poles, warm clothing, and goggles.
5. Under their own power, surfers paddle out to their starting places, far from shore.
6. Must a skier buy a ticket for a ski-lift ride to the top of the mountains?
7. Oddly enough, some important similarities exist between surfing and skiing.
8. Both depend on the cooperation of nature for pleasant weather and good waves or good snow.
9. Do both surfing and snow skiing require coordination and balance more than strength?
10. In fact, each of these sports would probably make an excellent cross-training activity during the other’s off-season.